Pill dispenser



R. S. KAY

PILL DISPENSER July 7, 1959 Filed Nov. 30. 1954 fl/ z/ w mw f WM z, 8 f,zy, ,h w #m f lv. WW a w 4 id av W PILL DISPENSER [Richard S. Kay,Chicago, Ill.

Application November 30, 1954, Serial No. 471,983 Claims. (Cl. 221-260)The present invention relates to dispensing apparatus, and moreparticularly to apparatus for dispensing pills and the like. i v

Still more particularly, the present invention relates to inconspicuousdispensing of pills for such persons as diabetics who are frequentlyrequired to consume pills while they are in public places. Heretofore,many persons found it most disagreeable to their social tastes andetiquette to take or otherwise consume pills while in public orSemi-private places since they were forced to expose either a bottle ofsuch pills or other container thereof such as pillboxes, etc.

By the present invention, however, there is provided a pill-dispensingdevice which has the general shape and appearance of a pocket fountainpen and which fully dsguises its pill-dispensing character and thnsobviates such disagreeable situations as those described above. Inaddition, by the principles of the present invention there may beprovided-a pill dispenser which is efiective to eject or dispense pillssingularly, or one at a time.

By the use of a pill dispenser embodying the principles of the presentinvention'the user thereof may easily entirely disguise the fact that heis utilizing medication 'by simply so holding the dispenser in one handthat upon actuation thereof the'single pill ejected will be ejected intothe palm of the hand or into the other hand so that no one present Withthe user will be aware of the users V actions.

Pill dispensers embodying the principles of the present invention may beso constructed as to have a push button-like actuator at the top or capend thereof which will actuate an ejector to force a single pill fromthe bottom or mouth end thereof. The dispenser may further be providedwith a loading aperture in the body portion and means to close andeifectively seal the loading aperture so that accidental inversionv ofthe dispenser ICC and to eject the pills singularly or one at a timethrough the bottom or mouth end of the dispenser.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved pill dispenser with a cooperating resilient retainer and aninner mouth flange or shoulder to prevent pills from falling freelythrough the dispenser.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide acooperating resilient actuator and resilient ejector operable incombination with the resilient retainer to eject pills singularly andthen reposition the mechanism for ejection of a new single pill.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved pill dispensing device with concealable loading aperturetherein, the concealing means further being operable 'as a pocket clipor the like.

Still other objects, features and advantages of the present inventionwill become readily apparent from the following detailed description ofthe present invention and an embodiment thereof, from the claims, andfrom the accompanying drawings in which each and every detail shown isfully 'and completely disclosed as a part of this specification, inwhich like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pill dispenser embodyingthe prnciples of the present invention and shown in a deactuatedposition, further being shown substantially as taken along the line I-Iof Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view of the pill dispenser of Figure1 shown as taken substantially along the line II-II of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the dispenser similar toFigure 1 but shown with the loading aperture closure means disposed in aclosed position and with the actuator and ejector shown in the depressedor actuating and ejecting position;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view of the pill dispenser of Figures1 and 3 and shown as taken substantially along the line IV-IV of Figure3;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the body i and cap portionof the pill dispenser;

Figure 6 is an elevational view of the actuating spring and ejector;

Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the guide and retainer; and

will not permit the pills therein to leave the dispenser principles ofthe present invention are equipped to accept through the loadingaperture.

It is, therefore, an important object of the present invention toprovide a new 'and improved pill dispenser which has a general shape andconfiguration resemblng that of a pocket fountain pen or the like.

Another important object of the, present invention is to provide a newand improved pill dispenser operable to dispense or eject pillssingularly, or one at a time.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved pill dispenser having a resilient actuator which isthumb-operable or depressible to actuate an ejector for ejecting pillsfrom the dispenser;

Yet another object of 'the present invention is to provide a new andimproved pill`dispenser with a tubular body having disposed therein aguide member and pillretainer with resilient retaining means thereon toprevent pills therein from freely falling through the dispenser.

Yet another object of the present invention is to pro'- vide a new andimproved pill dispenser with cooperating resilient retaining. means land;resilient .ejectingmeans to Figure 8 is a transverse sectional view ofthe guide and retainer shown as taken substantially along the line VIII-VIII of Figure 7.

As shown on the drawing:

As hereinbefore stated, pill dispensers embodying the and hold aplurality of pills and eject the same in a singular manner. That is tosay, that pill dispensers embodying the principles of the presentinvention are operable to carry a plurality of pills and to eject thesame one at a time through the open mouth end thereof.

An embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the drawing whereinthere is shown a pill dispenser 10 having a generally tubular body 11which may be formed .t in any particular desired manner such as fromtube stock or the like and from any particular desired material such asmetal or plastic or the like. The tubular body 11 has an open upper oractuating end 12, while the lower end 13 thereof is rolled sli'ghtlyinwardly to a smaller diameter and has provided thereon an inwardlyextending flange or shoulder 14. In practice, it is preferred that thelower end actually be provided by an independent mouthpiece 15 which isgenerally frusto-conical in external configuration and is provided witha slot 16 therein of sufficient size to permit a pill to passtherethrough.

retain pills against falling freely through the dispenser The uppersurface or inner face of the mouthpiece 15 would then form the fiange orshoulder 14. This flange or shoulder supports a guide and retainer 17which is fitted into the interior of the body 11 with a relatively tightfriction fit whereby it will be retained in place without the necessityof otherwise securing the same to the body portion and will be properlypositioned in the body 11 by abutment between the lower end of'the guideand retainer with the upper face or shoulder 14 on the mouthpiece 15which is secured to the slightly inwardly rolled end 13 of the body 11.

The retainer and guide 17 is preferably formed as a double channeldevice with a pair of substantially parallel side walls 18 and 19 thatextend transversely across the interior of the body 11 andlongitudinally thereof. A pair of guide walls 20 and 21 are secured toand extend between the side walls 18 and 19 to hold the same in positionand fix the space definition of a pair of channels between the severalwalls. That is, the side walls 18 and 19 together with the guide walls20 and 21 define a pill channel 22 of suficient size and transversedimensions to accept pills therein edgewise of the pills and to permitthe pills to fall therethrough by force of gravity. The wall 20 isspaced inwardly from the edges of the side walls 18 and 19, however, toprovide a guide channel 23 for an ejector 24 which is slidably arrangedlongitudinally in the channel 23.

Thus, pills fed into the dispenser will be fed into the guide 17edgewise and will be permitted to fall by force of gravity in edgerelation with each other through the channel 22 defined by the sidewalls 18 and 19 and the guide walls 20 and 21.

To feed pills into the dispenser, an appropriate aperture 25 is cut orpunched or otherwise provided in the side of the tubular body 11 in thevicinity of the upper end 12 thereof but spaced below the upper end 12by a distance required for retaining and moving the cap 26 of theactuator portion of the dispenser. This slot 25 is of such configurationthat it will extend longitudinally of the barrel or body 11 so thatpills inserted therethrough will have an edgewise relation with eachother and their axes will be substantially perpendicular to the axis ofthe barrel or body 11.

Also, to facilitate loading or feeding pills into the body of thedispenser and into the channel 22 of the guide 17, the upper end portionof the guide wall 21 and immediately adjacent portions of the side walls18 and 19 are removed as at 27 whereby pills fed through the slot 25 inthe barrel 11 may also be fed through the slot 27 in the retainer 17.Pills so fed through the slots and into the channel 22 of the guide 17will assume the edgewise relation and such gravity fed positions asshown by the pills 28, 29 and 30, etc. in Figure 1.

Once the dispenser is so loaded, it is desirable to seal or otherwiseclose off the slots 25 and 27 for reasons not the least of which is thatupon accidental dropping or inversion of the dispenser from its normalposition may result in loss of pills through the slots 25 and 27. Tothis end, a closure device is provided by a rotatable relatively tightfriction fitting ring 31 mounted on the barrel 11 exteriorly thereof andabout the region of the slot 25 therein. The ring 31 is also providedwith a slot 32 corresponding to the slot 25 so the pills may be fedtherethrough when loading the dispenser. The ring is caused to berotatable or slidable and when the dispenser is loaded the ring 31 maybe moved from its position as shown in Figure 1 to a closed position asshown in Figure 3 with the slot 32 in the ring 31 displaced from theslot 25 in the body 11. Since the ring has a relatively tight fri'ctionfit with the barrel 11, however, it will not be accidentally or easilydisplaced. The ring also serves as a securing member for a pocket springclip 33 which may be welded or otherwise secured thereto and whichpermits the dispenser to be placed in the pocket and secured theretomuch in the same manner as an ordinary pocket fountain pen 01' the like.

To keep the pills from falling freely through the dispenser and throughthe slot 16 in the mouthpiece 15, a resilient retainer 34, in the formof a resilient strip of spring metal or the like is secured to the lowerend of the outer guide wall 21 on the guide 17. It will be seen that theguide wall 21 does not extend to the bottom edge 35 of the side walls 18and 19 but ends substantially above the bottom edge 35 to permiteffective operation of the retainer 34.

The free end of the retainer 34 is rolled or otherwise bent toward theopposite guide wall 20 so that the space between the free end 36 of theretainer and the opposite edge of the guide 17 and the opposite wall ofthe barrel 11 is normally less than the diameter of the pills in thedispenser. Thus a pill fallng against the resilient retainer 34 cannotescape through the slot 16 but is withheld from so fallng through theslot by the retainer which holds the pill against the opposite side ofthe barrel 11 by its free end 36 such as the pill 28 is held inFigure 1. The retainer 34 also cooperates with the mouthpiece 15 in thisregard since it extends well over the slot 16 in the mouthpiece 15 andeven if it did not urge the pill against the opposite side wall of thebarrel 11, it would cause the pill to engage the shoulder 14 and thusprevent the pill from fallng through the slot 16.

To eject a pill from the dispenser 10 and to overcome the force of theretainer 34, however, the ejector 24 is slidably positioned in thechannel 23 of the guide 17 and adjacent to the side wall of the barrel11 against which the pill 28 is held by the guide 34. When this ejectoris actuated downwardly, its free end 37 which is rolled or bentinwardly, the ejector being formed of such a material as a resilientstrip of metal or the like, will engage the pill 28 and push the sameagainst the force of the ejector 24 to permit it to-fall through theslot 16 and thus eject the pill 28 in the manner as shown in Figure 3.This movement of the ejector 24 is eifected through operation of theactuator and the guide wall 20 of the guide 17, which guide wall extendsdownwardly only to a position substantially above the bottom edge 35 ofthe side walls 18 and 19 even though it extends below the terminatinglower end of the guide wall 21.

Actuation of the ejector 24 by the actuator is effected through movementof the cap 26 such as by thumb pressure to move the cap into the upperend of the barrel 11 such as from the position shown in Figure l to theposition shown in Figure 2 where the lower end or inner end 38 of thetubular cap 26 abuts the upper end of the guide 17. During such movementof the cap 26 a coil spring 39, .or the like, which is retained betweenthe closed upper end of the tubular cap 26 and the top edge of the guide17v is compressed. Upon release of thumb pressure from the top of thecap 26, the coil spring 39 will resiliently urge the cap 26 back to itsoriginal position, as to the position shown in Figure 1 from theposition shown in Figure 3. The ejector 24 is secured to one of theconvolutions of the coil spring 39 as by welding or the like asindicated at 40. It is preferred that the convolution to which theejector 24 is secured be at or near the upper end of the helical coilspring 39 so that maximum movement of the ejector 24 may be eifectedduring compression of the actuator spring by movement of the actuatorcap 26.

From the foregoing it will be readily observed that by thepresent'invention there is provided a pill dispenser which is operabletodispense one pill at a time and has incorporated therein an actuatorwhich will resiliently operate a resilient ejector that, cooperates Witha resilient retainer for the stated purposes. It will also be apparentthat numerous variations and modifications may be made Without departngfrom the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts and principles ofthis invention. I, therefore, intend to cover all such modificationsVand variations las fall within the true spirit and scope of the novelconcepts and' prnciples of this invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A pocket pill dispenser comprising a tubular body, a guide member insaid body comprising two Channels, one of said Channels disposed toretain pills therein in edgewise relation, a second channel disposed toretain a pill ejector, an ejector formed of resilient strip sldablyarranged in said second channel and normally out of engagement with thepills and operative to engage the lowermost pill and eject it from saidbody, a single resilient retaining means secured to the lower end ofsaid guide to restrict ejection of said pills by said ejector to asingle pill on each occasion of manipulation of the ejector, a thumbdepressible cap sldably arranged in the upper end of said body, and anactuator spring means disposed between said guide member and said Capand compressible by depression of said cap into said body, said ejectorbeing so secured at its upper end to one of the uppermost coils of saidactuator spring means so that compression thereof manipulates saidejector so that the lower end thereof will eject the lowermost pill fromsaid guide member and said body.

2. A pocket pill dispenser comprising a tubular body, a guide member insaid body formed of a double channel device, one of said Channelsdisposed to retain pills there in in edgewise relation, said secondchannel disposed to retain a pill ejector, and an ejector formed ofresilient strip sldably arranged in said second channel in said guide toengage the lowermost pill and eject it from said guide and said body,said guide having a friction fit in said body to retain the same inplace therein, a single resilient strip retaining means secured to thelower end of said guide to restrict ejection of said pills by saidejector to a single pill on each occasion of manipulation of saidejector, a thumb depressible cap sldably arranged in said body, and anactuator spring means disposed between the upper end of said guidemember and the upper interior end of said cap and compressible bydepression of said Cap into said body, said ejector being so seCured atits upper end to one of the uppermost coils of said actuator springmeans so that compression thereof manipulates said ejector whereby thelowermost end thereof will eject the lowermost pill from said guidemember and said body.

3. A pocket pill dispenser comprising a tubular body, a guide member insaid body formed as a double channel device, one of said Channelsdisposed to retain pills therein in edgewise relation, said secondchannel disposed to retain a pill ejector, a resilient ejector sldablyarranged in said second channel and normally out of engagement with thepills and operative to engage the lowermost pill and eject it from saidbody, resilient retaining means secured to the lower end of said guideto restrict ejection of said pills by said ejector to a single pill oneach occasion of manipulation of said ejector, a thumb depressible capsldably arranged in the upper end of said body, and an actuator springmeans disposed between said guide member and said cap and compressibleby depression of said cap into said body, said ejector being so securedat its upper end to one of the uppermost coils of said actuator springmeans that compression thereof manipulates said ejector and so that thelower end thereof will eject the lowermost pill from said guide memberin said body, said body having a leading slot therein beneath theactuator spring and near an end thereof opposite to the region ofejection of the pills, and means to open and close said loading slot.

4. A pocket pill dispenser comprising a tubular body, a mouthpiece onsaid body providing an interior shoulder on said body at one endthereof, a guide member formed as a double channel device andfrictionally disposed in said body, the side walls of said guide memberabutted against said shoulder, one of said Channels disposed therein,the second of said Channels disposed to retain a pill ejector, aresilient ejector formed of a resilient strip sldably arranged in saidsecond channel to engage the lowermost pill and eject it from said body,a single resilient retaining strip means secured to said guide torestrict ejection of said pills by said ejector to a single pill on eachoceasion of manipulation of said ejector, a thumb depressible capsldably arranged in said body at the upper end thereof, and an actuatorspring means disposed between said guide member and said cap andcompressible by depression of said cap into said body, said ejectorbeing so secured to the uppermost portion of said actuator spring meansthat compression thereof manipulates said ejector to eject a single pillfrom said first channel in said member and said body through saidmouthpiece.

5. A pocket pill dispenser comprising a tubular body, a guide member insaid body comprising two Channels longitudinally arranged adjacent eachother, one of said Channels disposed to retain pills therein in edgewiserelation, an ejector formed of a resilient strip sldably arranged insaid guide normally Cut of engagement with pills in the guide andoperative to engage the lowermost pill and eject it from said guide andfrom said body, a single resilient retaining means secured to the lowerend of said guide to restrict ejection of said pills by said ejector toa single pill on each occasion of manipulation of said ejector, a thumbdepressible cap on said body and an actuator spring means disposedbetween said guide and said cap and compressible by depression of saidcap, and said ejector being firmly secured to a Coil of the actuatorspring adjacent the upper end thereof whereby compression of said springwill effect the lower end of the ejector to eject the lowermost pillfrom said guide member and said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS584,999 Goldsmith et al. June 22, 1897 623,334 Perkins Apr. 18, 18991,615,642 Martino Jan. 25, 1927 2,131,518 Lurssen Sept. 27, 19382,294,001 Ritter Aug. 25, 1942 2,569,629 Everitt Oct. 2, 1951 2,718,299Atwater et al Sept. 20, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 135,432 Austria Nov. 10,1933 499,271 Great Britain Ian. 20, 1939 602,568 Germany Sept. 12, 1934685,551 France July 11, 1930 874,648 Germany Apr. 27, 1953

